Colonel Thomas A. Duncan II was one of our first MA graduates in 2007. His last assignment in the United States Army was Command of the Pueblo Chemical Depot, Colorado. There he oversaw the security of 780,078 mustard agent filled munitions, and was a member of the Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant start up team, helping keep the United States in compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention. In the Summer of 2017, he became the Assistant Commandant of the U.S. Army’s Chemical Biological Radiological and Nuclear School at Fort Leonard Wood, MO. “I will endeavor to pass on what I have learned at Kansas State University, and the practical application of what I learned in my professional life following my time as a Wildcat, as a leader of this critical Army school. I’m looking forward to taking on this next challenge!”
Anna Hurt, Master of Arts 2013, currently works for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Before joining FEMA, she was a Disaster Management Analyst for the Center for Disaster Philanthropy. Anna visited Security Studies in March for a professional development seminar and advised graduate students on transitioning from graduate school to work in the public sector.
Shon McCormick, PhD 2013, spent 2016-2017 as a US Army War College Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University. Dr. McCormick arrived at Georgetown from the National Security Council, where he served as Director of Defense Policy and Strategy, with an emphasis on security sector assistance policy and global defense strategy.
David Mitchell, PhD 2016, is currently working for Cisco Systems in Arizona as a contractor. He works on program evaluation with a team of PhDs from various social science backgrounds. While employed in the private sector, he is still working on multiple academic projects. Last week, Stability: International Journal of Security & Development published an overview of a dataset he put together as part of his dissertation. The dataset provides information on the locations and activities of NGOs in Afghanistan between 2000 and 2014. The open-access article can be viewed here.
Justin Mohn, Master of Arts 2017, is spending six-months this fall in an internship with NATO in Brussels, Belgium. “Much of my interest in pursuing a graduate degree through the Security Studies program centered on a desire to build a career in national defense. Serving in one of the United States’ most vital alliances will allow me to begin realizing that goal after two years of study.”
David Oakley, PhD 2016, is an assistant professor at National Defense University’s College of International Security Affairs in Washington, D.C., where he teaches courses on counterterrorism and homeland security. David notes that he was selected for the NDU position because of his K-State education in Security Studies. He has turned his dissertation into a book manuscript titled, Militarizing Intelligence: The DoD/CIA Post-Cold War Relationship, and it is currently undergoing peer review.